The spectral energy distribution camera for the LMT

Advances in bolometer device and readout technologies make it possible to build photon-noise limited bolometric cameras for ground-based observations at mm-wave frequencies. However, today's bolometer cameras are limited not by photon-noise of the telescope and atmosphere but by fluctuations in the atmosphere signal. To realize the full potential of bolometer cameras on large aperture ground-based telescopes, one must find a way to defeat this foreground. The SPEctral Energy Distribution Camera - or SPEED - is a four pixel, four frequency camera planned for eventual use on the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT). A prototype version of this camera is currently being built for initial operation on the Heinrich Hertz Telescope (HHT). SPEED incorporates Frequency Selective Bolometers to sample the sky with a frequency-independent beam simultaneously at four frequencies (from 150 to 375 GHz) in each pixel. SPEED's ability to separate the temporally varying atmospheric signal from the true sky signal will potentially result in a per-detector sensitivity between 2 and 5 times greater than that achieved with contemporary bolometer cameras. We describe the basic design and motivation for SPEED, the expected sensitivity of the camera on the LMT, and give examples of some of the science programs we will undertake.